Librarian testifies in rape case

A New Bedford librarian described how Corey Deen Saunders lingered at a table with a 6-year-old boy close to the time that he allegedly raped the child in the library's magazine room.

BRIAN FRAGA

NEW BEDFORD — A city librarian described with a calm voice and matter-of-fact precision Wednesday how registered sex offender Corey Deen Saunders lingered at a table with a 6-year-old boy close to the time that he allegedly raped the child between the stacks of the library's magazine room.

The librarian, Eileen Michaud, said she walked into the reference room at least three times on Jan. 30 to let Mr. Saunders know she was watching him. She said the library staff had been alerted that Mr. Saunders, 26, was a registered sex offender.

"I was concerned," Ms. Michaud said. "I wanted him to know I was in the room."

Ms. Michaud testified in New Bedford Superior Court during the early part of a probation violation hearing for Mr. Saunders, who is charged with rape of a child by force, indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 and enticing a child under 16. Mr. Saunders is a Level 3 sex offender, considered most likely to reoffend.

On Jan. 30, Mr. Saunders allegedly lured the 6-year-old boy between two bookshelves in the second-floor reference room and performed oral sex on him. The child's mother was working on a computer less than 10 feet away, police said.

New Bedford police Detective Alberto Silva testified Wednesday the child told his mother that a man had touched him. When he showed the boy a picture of Mr. Saunders, Detective Silva said the child told him, "That's him."

At the time of the alleged assault, Mr. Saunders, who had been living in a homeless shelter, was on probation for a 2000 conviction of attempted rape of a child. His probation prohibited him from unsupervised contact with children.

If found guilty of violating his probation, Mr. Saunders could be sentenced to up to five years in prison. The new charges stemming from the library incident will be tried separately.

The probation violation hearing will resume today with video footage from the interview police and child welfare specialists conducted with the child. The child's image will not be shown to the public.

During Wednesday's proceedings, Ms. Michaud told Assistant District Attorney Maryclare Flynn that Mr. Saunders had been seen in the library dozens of times from August 2007 to the time of the alleged assault.

She said Mr. Saunders often used the computers for Internet access. She recalled one occasion where she saw him viewing a Web site she considered inappropriate. She said the Web site had a picture of a young boy.

"He became agitated when I told him what he was looking at was inappropriate," Ms. Michaud said. "He said the library had filters; that if the site was objectionable, he would not have been allowed on it."

Two months before the alleged attack, Ms. Michaud said a co-worker learned Mr. Saunders was a registered sex offender and notified the library staff.

On Jan. 30, Ms. Michaud said, she saw the boy and Mr. Saunders sitting at a table in the second-floor room. The boy was kneeling on his chair and had children's dinosaur books nearby. Ms. Michaud said Mr. Saunders and the boy were speaking in hushed tones when she first saw them.

When she entered the room the second time, Mr. Saunders and the boy began talking loudly about the Patriots.

Ms. Michaud said that while she was in the reference room, the child's mother also arrived in the room. She had been working nearby on a computer in the outside hallway. She said the mother became upset at her son because he had been talking to a stranger.

"She asked her son, 'Why are you talking to that man? I told you not to talk to strangers,'" Ms. Michaud recalled.

Ms. Michaud said she told the mother to talk to her son to find out what he had been talking to Mr. Saunders about.

The librarian observed the woman talking with her child for several minutes. Meanwhile, Mr. Saunders left the library.

The child's mother asked Ms. Michaud for Mr. Saunders' name. Initially, the librarian said she couldn't give out his name because of privacy rules. However, the mother persisted and told the librarian to call 911.

The 911 tape was played in court Wednesday. While barely audible, Ms. Michaud could be heard telling the police dispatcher that the mother was very upset. The librarian also told the dispatcher that she had seen the boy talking with Mr. Saunders.

Detective Silva and other police officers later found Mr. Saunders smoking a cigarette while standing outside the Market Ministries homeless shelter at 60 8th St. He had just come from a court-ordered sex offender group counseling session, prosecutors said.

Also Wednesday, Assistant District Attorney Flynn presented still photographs from the library surveillance tapes. The first photos she showed were of the reference room at the time of the alleged assault, one of Mr. Saunders walking between the room's bookshelves and one of the boy walking to the same bookshelves.

Contact Brian Fraga at bfraga@s-t.com

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